OPEC members and their partners in the oil production cut agreements from last November and December have reached a consensus to extend the deal until the end of 2017, the oil ministers of Iraq and Algeria said at a joint news conference. Jabber al-Luaibi and Noureddine Boutarfa said the official announcement of the extension will take place at OPEC’s May 25 meeting at its headquarters in Vienna, with the Algerian minister adding that “Algeria and Iraq maintain a united stand for the next cuts.” No mention was made about deepening the cut, as some analysts have suggested might be necessary. The initial agreement envisaged OPEC taking off 1.2 million bpd from global supply with Russia and 10 other non-members cutting another 600,000 bpd. Two OPEC members are exempt from the cut—Nigeria and Libya— and a third member, Iran, was allowed to boost output to a specified level. Earlier this […]